Identity Crisis of Tionghoa Ethnic in the Novel Naga Kuning by Yusiana Basuki

| ABSTRACT The "descent" label has created a distance between the Tionghoa ethnic and the indigenous people in Indonesia. The "descent" label creates the impression that the Tionghoa ethnic are ethically and morally different from the natives. The 1998 May riots in Jakarta further exacerbated ethnic Tionghoa sentiment in Indonesia. The Tionghoa community is considered as "others" in terms of physical and cultural attributes, so they are not considered part of Indonesian society, even though they are Chinese Indonesians. This has caused the Chinese community in Indonesia to experience an identity crisis. Ethnic Tionghoa are faced with two identities between, Indonesian and Chinese, to blend into Indonesian society. This research seeks to describe the identity crisis of ethnic Tionghoa through female characters in the novel Naga Kuning by Yusiana Basuki. The intersection of gender theory and identity theory is used to analyze the phenomenon of the Tionghoa ethnic identity crisis in Indonesia. The method used in this research was descriptive qualitative. Data collection was done through literary studies. The results showed that Yusiana Basuki, through the novel Naga Kuning depicts discrimination and violence against Tionghoa women in Indonesia during the 1998 riots. The discrimination and violence caused an identity crisis in Tionghoa women. The identity that is built is a blurred identity caused by socio-political conditions. The form of identity crisis described in this novel is the downturn, fear, and alienation of women from the social life they live. Despite being a victim of harassment and violence, the character Lily is a Chinese woman who survives and tries to continue to rise in the face of various conflicts as a discriminated ethnicity.


Introduction
Tionghoa ethnic in Indonesia is one of the ethnic groups that have made an important contribution to the process of economic development since hundreds of years ago.Ethnic Tionghoa is the wheel that drives a number of economic bases, especially in the fields of industry, trade, and mining.Unfortunately, as a minority, people of Tionghoa descent sometimes receive a number of negative labels and accusations.The stereotype then stretches the distance between Tionghoa and indigenous people that lasts long and real.
The reality of discrimination and violence against the Tionghoa people in Indonesia has occurred in various incidents.One of the real tragedies occurred in 1998, coinciding with the monetary crisis and the fall of the New Order.At that time, looting and sexual violence had become fatal humanitarian disasters.Tionghoa people who had grown up and settled in Indonesia were terrorized by some disturbances.Several Tionghoa people then chose to leave Indonesia even though it is the country where they grew up.
Violence against ethnic Tionghoa had a major impact on Tionghoa women at that time.A number of headlines from various media reported the occurrence of sexual violence in a number of places against Tionghoa women.The tragedy resulted in violence and even murder which created fear for a long time.Various incidents showed that Tionghoa women experienced double pressure, both as ethnic minorities and as women of Tionghoa descent.
The reality of discrimination and the downfall of Tionghoa women in Indonesia is also recorded in a number of Indonesian novels.The novels Bukan Cinta Sesaat (1995) by Mira Widjaja, Putri Cina (2007) by Sindhunata, and Kincir Waktu (2020) by Akmal Nasery also describe discrimination against Tionghoa women from time to time.Another novel entitled Naga Kuning (2013) by Yusiana Basuki also described violence and crimes against Tionghoa women during the 1998 riots in Jakarta.These three novels were written by authors of Tionghoa descent.It seems that the authors tried to represent the sense of disappointment of the Tionghoa people through their works.
This research focuses on the Naga Kuning novel by Yusiana Basuki since the story was set in 1998.Yusiana Basuki, as the author, tries to narrate their disappointment with the Indonesian government during the 1998 monetary crisis when Indonesia was in an uncontrollable situation.The novel presents the character of Lily, a girl of Tionghoa descent who becomes a victim of sexual violence.Lily is a young girl who is an officer of the Naga Kuning company.Naga Kuning Company is one of the big companies that control the export of tea products made in Indonesia to foreign countries.Lily is a beautiful and successful young woman.Lily becomes an educated woman who has become a symbol of women's emancipation.However, the 1998 monetary crisis caused Lily to experience sexual harassment, leaving her severely traumatized and losing her memory.
Lily, an ethnic minority, experienced a number of distressing events.Since childhood, Lily has tried to believe in her existence as an Indonesian, but unfortunately, the treatment of the people and the environment around her made Lily feel confused about her identity.Lily in the novel is either Indonesian or Chinese.From the beginning, Lily affirms herself as an Indonesian because she was born to a Sundanese mother, but the Chinese blood that flows in her father makes her often feel that she is a Chinese girl who is a minority and different from Indonesia.Sarup (2002) asserts that the identity that each individual owns is not fixed but moving.This condition occurs because part of the construction comes from the labeling process.Humans often get labels from the surrounding environment.Labeling is what forms an identity.The identity is not only formed by a number of events in the past but also by how an event is interpreted to create influences.
The phenomenon of identity can be observed through differences in class or social status.In essence, this is related to human cultural identity.Discrimination against minorities, for example, causes identity to feel gray, colorless, and blurred.The influence intended here is the unfair treatment felt or obtained by the Tionghoa as Indonesian citizens.The conditions of social, economic, and political chaos that occurred in that period made Tionghoa ethnic in trauma and fear.This condition also put their economy in a slump.This novel is chosen as the object of study because the author sees the phenomenon of identity blurring in Tionghoa women that occurs continuously.Lily, the main character in the novel, is a Tionghoa woman who receives discrimination, both from the family environment and the surrounding social environment.Lily is also a victim of sexual violence by a group of men during the 1998 riots in Jakarta.
Research on identity crisis has also been written by Burhan (2020) in a journal entitled "Identity Fragmentation in the Bukan Cinta Sesaat novel written by Mira Widjaja".The results of Burhan's analysis showed that Mira Widjaja as an author of the novel Bukan Cinta Sesaat tried to describe the symptoms of violence and racial discrimination against the Tionghoa ethnic.The violence and discrimination had an impact on the fragmentation of identity.The identity that was formed was an incomplete identity.
According to Sarup (2002), identity is the selfhood, characteristics, and marks that individuals or groups have that make them unique and different.The identity is basically flexible, but the environment contributes to the realization of identity.This is also related to social constructions that are deliberately presented by a system or group.These constructions cause blurring of identity.The vagueness of identity results in a fragmented identity, resulting in an identity crisis.
The phenomenon of identity crisis was first introduced by Erikson (in Fitriana).Erikson asserts that "identity is never established as an achievement" (1968: 24).Basically, identity is not a final achievement because identity is not a final result.According to Erikson (1968: 221), identity is dynamic, changes, and develops.Identity is a "forever-to-be-revised sense of the reality of the self within social reality" in which humans will progress, introspect themselves, and try to improve themselves for the better as they adjust to a changing environment.Identity issues become a lifelong problem because identity formation can occur as a person faces problems in his life, especially when an individual experiences the problems of living as a minority, occupying a new environment, losing loved ones, divorce, unemployment, serious illness, etc.The ability to cope with identity issues can be seen in the way a person faces and resolves the identity crisis they experience.
In the novel Naga Kuning, the author narrates that the identity crisis of Chinese women occurs due to discrimination and violence which is committed by indigenous people against them.This is because their race is considered different.As Indonesian citizens, Chinese descendants should ideally receive equal treatment with other ethnicities.However, the reality shows that they remain a minority with an unequal position with indigenous people.
The word crisis is derived from the Greek word "crisis".According to the Online Big Indonesian Dictionary (2021), a crisis is defined as a dangerous situation; a precarious situation, a crisis; or a gloomy situation.A crisis refers to any event that is occurring or is expected to lead to an unstable and dangerous situation that affects individuals, groups, communities, or entire societies.
Identity crises usually occur in heterogeneous societies.It stems from environmental pressures and the formation process that a person or group undergoes.These pressures can take the form of injustice, discrimination, and violence against minorities.This makes minority groups feel a fragmented identity and ambiguity with their existence.This ambiguity then creates an identity crisis for a person or group.
Identity crisis can also occur due to racism.Racism is a combination of negative judgments about racial differences.This mistaken view then transforms into an ideology that has an impact on conflict.Banton (via Afda, 2012) states that racism is formed from two main ideas; first, humans are naturally divided into different physical types.Second, these physical differences affect culture, personality, and individual intelligence.Fredrickson (2002: 9) asserts that racism is built on two elements: difference and power.Racism is fostered by the perspective of "them", who are not the same as "us" and cannot be connected.This different view gives rise to motives and reasons to utilize the power and superiority of a group to act arbitrarily toward other groups.Such arbitrary actions are displayed in the form of social discrimination, colonization, slavery, exclusion, ostracization, and ethnic extermination.

Research Methods
This research used a qualitative descriptive method.Data collection was done through a literature study, while the analysis method used identity theory by looking at various phenomena related to the identity crisis.The object of this research was Tionghoa female characters in the novel Naga Kuning by Yusiana Basuki.The data collection technique used in this research was a non-interactive technique.The non-interactive data collection technique was done by reading intensively from the novel and taking active notes using the content analysis method.Meanwhile, the data analysis technique was qualitative and required a descriptive explanation (Jumaidin et al., 2022).The analysis technique used a non-interactive analysis model and was in the form of activities that move continuously together.

Results and Discussion
The identity crisis occurs through a prolonged accumulation of events.An identity crisis does not happen suddenly.The identity crisis in Tionghoa ethnic, for example, stems from a series of discriminatory actions that occur.Women, in fact, tend to be victims of discrimination.The Naga Kuning novel by Yusiana Basuki tells the story of the 1998 riots, narrating the character Lily as an independent Tionghoa woman who leads a large company in Jakarta.Lily's independence is then shaken when she becomes a victim of sexual violence by a group of men during the riots in Jakarta.

Formation of Identity Crisis
Naga Kuning is one of the novels that narrate the tragedy of sexual violence against Tionghoa women in 1998 in Jakarta.The novel presents the main character named, Lily as a Chinese-Sunda girl who grew up in Indonesia.Lily grew up in a well-off economic situation.However, Lily often feels incomplete, her identity floats, and she becomes alienated.In Lily's eyes, she is neither Indonesian nor Chinese.The blood that flows in her makes her carry a blur in her selfhood.
The world of compartmentalization experienced by Lily as a Chinese descendant.Even though Lily grew up with an upper-class social status, she perceived different treatment from people around her.This odd treatment makes Lily feel like an incomplete human being.She realized that she was not fully accepted by the environment in which she grew up.Unfortunately, even in her Tionghoa father's neighborhood, she still felt alienated.This alienation ultimately makes Lily's character feel a blurred and unclear identity.
In the novel Naga Kuning by Yusiana Basuki, the character Lily experiences a number of violent events and tragedies related to her Tionghoa race.Since childhood, Lily has lived through a number of situations that make her feel that she is in an unclear world and identity.Her father's Tionghoa blood is also attached to her, even though her mother is a Sundanese native.This indicates that discrimination contributes to the process of an identity crisis, where natives feel powerful and superior to people of Tionghoa descent.
The quote above shows the sexual violence against several Tionghoa women in May 1998.Tionghoa women who knew nothing became victims of violence.The violence stemmed from the monetary crisis and political turmoil in Indonesia.Anger and frustration led some indigenous people to act uncontrollably.These actions were also triggered by provocations and hatred that had occurred continuously against the Tionghoa people.On the one hand, the human tragedy was also allegedly planned by certain elements to create chaos after the fall of the Soeharto regime.
The novel Naga Kuning describes the form of discrimination and its impact on ethnic Tionghoa.In the novel, the author also tries to depict the downfall phase of Lily's character to heal her physical and psychological wounds after being a victim of rape.The severe trauma suffered by Lily's character made her depressed until she lost her memory for five years.As a result of the rape, Lily gave birth to a child that she never knew.The severe depression she experienced made her unable to remember many things, including herself and her origin.This is shown in the following quote: Mata Lily mendung saat Pak Hasan bercerita tentang peristiwa 13 dan 14 Mei 1998 di Jakarta.Banyak perempuan Tionghoa menjadi korban kekejaman ini.Untuk pertama kalinya Lily merasakan kemarahannya muncul.Airmatanya mengalir saat amarah dan rasa sakit menusuk hatinya.Tapi, kepada siapa ia bisa menunjukkan kebenciannya?Kerusuhan itu langkah strategis keji yang diprakarsai oleh politisi pemerintahan yang putus asa berusaha menunjukkan kekuasaan mereka (Basuki, 2011: 231).
The quote above shows the anger that Lily felt after her memory was restored.Lily experienced skysophrenia for five years after being a victim of sexual violence in Jakarta.For five years, she was taken out of the country to go through the recovery process.After five years, all the memories of the violence and abuse she had experienced came back intact and made her fall back.The riots that were suspected of being orchestrated by unscrupulous people showed one of the worst times of Indonesia's political situation.Nevertheless, the character Lily tries to be vital to continue her future to lead the Naga Kuning company again.
As a minority group, ethnic Tionghoa is often considered to only live in the midst of indigenous groups.In reality, it is the Tionghoa people who actually control the economic sector in Indonesia.In 1959, for example, ethnic Tionghoa were banned from selling on the side of the road.The discrimination stems from the Presidential Regulation of the Republic of Indonesia Number 10 of 1959, which prohibits foreign nationals (including Tionghoa) from retailing at the district level and below and must transfer their business to indigenous people.The phenomenon of discrimination is also described in the novel Naga Kuning through the life of Lily and her family as Tionghoa descendants.Lily expresses a sense of racial injustice in the following quote: Lily menjelaskan bahwa ia harus berhati-hati karena warga pribumi sering menyerang warga keturunan Tionghoa, setiap kali negara ini berada dalam masalah.Meskipun warga keturunan Tionghoa telah memberikan konstribusi bagi perkembangan ekonomi Indonesia, mereka adalah kambing hitam atas segala ketidakberesan di negara ini (Basuki, 2011: 8).
The quote shows Lily's protest on behalf of the Tionghoa people against all the injustices that have been done to them.This injustice has occurred continuously and has hurt the existence of the Tionghoa people.In the novel Naga Kuning, Yusiana Basuki describes a number of conditions that cannot be avoided by those of Tionghoa ethnicity.These conditions take the form of stereotyping.Stereotypes are labels that are assigned to individuals based on perceptions of certain groups.Stereotypes are a form of human subjectivity to judge an individual or group.These stereotypes can take the form of positive or negative prejudice and sometimes become the reason for indigenous people to act discriminatively.However, in general, some forms of stereotypes tend to be negative (Robbins and Judge via Afda 2012).This is illustrated in the following quote: Ironis memang, mereka harus meninggalkan negara sendiri demi bertahan hidup.
The labeling of "descent" pinned on ethnic Tionghoahas been creating the impression that ethnic Tionghoa is culturally and morally different from those who are indigenous.The "descent" label ultimately puts psychological pressure on Tionghoa citizens, making them prone to harassment.The quote also shows the situation of economic and political chaos that adversely affected the existence of ethnic Tionghoa in Indonesia in 1998.The chaotic situation that occurred made the position of ethnic Tionghoa difficult.Their existence seems to have no roots and is easily uprooted due to the negative labeling that has been formed for a long time.
The position of Lily's character in the novel almost coincides with the reality that occurs in our social environment.In Indonesia, similar acts of discrimination also often occur to Indonesian citizens of Tionghoa descent in various provinces.In 2020, for example, when the coronavirus became a deadly outbreak, hate speech against ethnic Tionghoa became more widespread on a number of social media, especially Twitter.Through social media, people made accusations that the virus originated from the Tionghoa people, who then infected the world.The hate speech allegedly increased by 900 percent during the pandemic (source: http://jpnn.com,2020).
In 2016, an act of violence was also experienced by a Jakarta resident of Tionghoa descent.Apart from being beaten, the man with the initials A was shouted at with harassing words that led to symptoms of racist violence.A man with the initial A was also accused of being Ahok, the nickname for former Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who is of Tionghoa descent.The harassment and violence show that racist hatred against ethnic Chinese in Indonesia (Tionghoa) is still strong and persistent (source: Titro.id).
Racial hatred by indigenous people towards ethnic Tionghoa has been going on for a long time.The article in tirto.idstates that the beginning of this hatred began to form four hundred years ago since the colonial period.In a series of events, various tragedies, violence, and discrimination were experienced by people of Tionghoa descent, causing them to experience an identity crisis in their lives.

Individual Alienation in Social Life
The form of identity crisis depicted in the novel Naga Kuning is the alienation of individuals from their social life.The discriminatory actions of the natives cause Tionghoa people to often experience anxiety, paranoia, and loss of self-confidence, making them distant from their social life.Even the violence experienced by the ethnic Tionghoa led to their downfall and death.This reality builds distance between the natives and the Tionghoa.As a result of all the anxiety and distrust, the ethnic Tionghoa slowly withdrew and separated themselves from the indigenous people.This condition gradually makes their identity unclear, an identity that makes them foreign and distant from social life, even though, as humans, they should have the right to feel a normal life away from fear like the lives of indigenous people.Yusiana Basuki presents these phenomena in the novel through a series of events that describe the lives of ethnic Tionghoa who are in all the anxiety.One example can be seen in the following quote: Kelima loket yang ada panjang dengan antrean.Peter berdiri di belakang sebuah keluarga berkebangsaan Jepang.Mereka tampak sedih dan gugup.Peter melihat ke sekelilingnya.Dia memperhatikan ada orang China, Jepang, Korea, Inggris, Jerman, Prancis, dan Belanda.Bandara ini penuh dengan orang sesak dengan orang asing yang ingin pulang, termasuk warga Tionghoa, meskipun rumah mereka sebenarnya di Indonesia (Basuki, 2011: 25).
The tragedy that occurred in May 1998 in Jakarta ignited riots and massive looting of houses and shops owned by ethnic Tionghoa.The uncontrolled rioters put the Tionghoans and foreigners in danger, and they tried to leave Indonesia as soon as possible.Discrimination and violence that caused prolonged trauma were also experienced by Lily's father and mother in the novel.The Chinese race that flows in Lily's father makes him experience rejection from his wife's family, who is Sundanese.Here is the quote: Hambatan dalam hubungan mereka sangat besar karena Kho orang China dan Fatima asli Indonesia.China dan pribumi seperti air dan minyak yang tidak bisa bersatu.Jika orangtua Fatima tahu hubungan itu, pasti Fatima akan dipaksa mengakhiri hubungan itu.Itulah sebabnya mereka dengan hati-hati menyembunyikan hubungan mereka selama lebih dari setahun (Basuki, 2011: 69).
The backstreet love of Lily's father and Fatima as a native Indonesian woman was a face of Tionghoa and Native Indonesian relations in society.The Chinese were difficult to be accepted social life.Even though Lily's father succeeded in marrying Fatima, the situation remained unfavorable and made them experience hard times.
The quote above shows the political accusations against ethnic Tionghoa.The accusation was linked to the betrayal of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), which was then also linked to the presence and involvement of Chinese people in Indonesia.As a result, the Tionghoa was again in a difficult situation.The events in the novel show that an environment shaped by racial actions will make ethnic Tionghoa become alienated from their environment.Afandi (2017), in his research, wrote that the tragedy of the G 30 S PKI Rebellion had affected the stability of ethnic Tionghoa life in a number of regions in Indonesia.After the G 30 S PKI tragedy, there were shavings against ethnic Tionghoa in Labuhan Haji Village, East Lombok Regency, West Nusa Tenggara.In the shifting event, the Tionghoa people, who had lived side by side with the natives, experienced forced eviction.A number of their assets and merchandise were confiscated and looted by the natives.This was because the ethnic Tionghoa in Labuhan Haji were considered PKI henchmen.
The acts of discrimination in the novel are a reflection of the real world.The phenomenon of ethnic Tionghoa hatred and discrimination occurred hundreds of years ago in Indonesia.Nurhadi (2008) asserts in 1740.There was a massacre of Chinese people in Batavia.In this tragedy, thousands of ethnic Chinese houses were burned down, and around 10,000 people died.The Chinatown Geger was not the only massacre of ethnic Chinese in Indonesia.Benny G Setiono's book Tionghoa in the Political Whirlpool mentions that atrocities also happened to the Tionghoa during the Java War (1825-1830).Indigenous hatred towards ethnic Tionghoa was formed through social construction built by the rulers, both Dutch and Javanese.Hendri F. Isnaeni, through the article Duka Warga Tionghoa in Historia magazine, states that in a number of historical records, ethnic Tionghoa was the target of mass rage several times, namely the range of the 1740 Chinezenmoord tragedy to May 1998.In the context of the Java War, the Javanese people at that time were hostile to ethnic Chinese because they were used as tax-collecting ports assigned by the kingdom (source: Tirto.id).
The blurring of ethnic Tionghoa's identity is also described by Agustinus Wibowo in his book Garis Batas (2020).In the book, the author, who is ethnic Tionghoa, describes how he felt left out and different since he was in school.The various taunts during school and the bullying he often received made him suffer from inferiority syndrome.The word C-I-N-A really made him feel like he was not Indonesian.In his book, Agustinus describes how he grew up as a minority.During the New Order era, he experienced how TV stations were banned from broadcasting anything about Chinese.Augustine's parents were even jailed for demonstrating against the East Java government in 1966/1967, which banned Tionghoans from trading outside Surabaya.The story of Agustinus' parents' detention is also recorded in Winarni's research journal (2012), which stated that massive demonstrations took place in various regions in East Java in March 1967.The demonstrations continued to expand and involved 4,000 to 10,000 ethnic Tionghoa in Surabaya, Kediri, Situbondo, and a number of other areas in East Java.The demonstrations were a manifestation of ethnic Tionghoa's protest against all the restrictions that they experienced.
The series of discriminatory events made Augustine feel a sense of identity blur.This identity blur eventually motivated Agustinus Wibowo to continue his education in his ancestral land in Tiongkok in 2000.Before leaving, Agustinus felt that he would fulfill his longing and fantasy to "go home" to the land of his ancestors.Unfortunately, when he arrived in Beijing, he also felt strange and different.He missed his homeland, Indonesia, even more.These series of events and emotional states show Augustine's identity ambiguity as an ethnic Tionghoa.

Conclusion
Based on the description of the analysis above, the results show that Yusiana Basuki's Novel Naga Kuning narrates the occurrence of racial discrimination and violence against ethnic Tionghoa during the 1998 riots in Indonesia.The "descent" stereotype has built a distance between ethnic Tionghoa and natives.The "descent" label creates the impression that the ethnic Tionghoa are ethically and morally different from the indigenous people.The discrimination and violence caused the Tionghoa people to experience trauma which led to an identity crisis.The identity crisis of ethnic Tionghoa in Indonesia occurred due to several factors; first, indigenous hatred of the Tionghoa race.This hatred was formed due to political provocation that began from the colonial era to post-independence.Secondly, terror in the form of physical and psychological violence against ethnic Tionghoa throughout the historical span from the colonial period to post-independence Indonesia.The identity crisis led to identity blurring and a sense of alienation towards ethnic Tionghoa.This research is expected to provide information and thought contributions to various parties regarding racial problems that have harmed human values.The identity crisis depicted in this research confirms that Indonesia, with its multicultural conditions, must be more ready and responsive to appreciate diversity.Research on the Tionghoa identity crisis is still limited in analyzing the multiple identity crises experienced by Tionghoa women.Therefore, researchers hope that there will be research that focuses on analyzing the crisis of women in ethnic minorities, especially Tionghoa.